Last week a dear army friend went out to sea for six months due to work reason. Yesterday when I was packing my room, I came across a stack of CD in my cupboard, and one of them was titled "photos"! At first I wondered what kind of photos are inside the CD, could it be porn? Haha. When I opened the CD, I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few photos of my time in the army! I have a lot more photos in my other desktop computer, but that desktop suffered a motherboard failure, and I did not back up the photos. Funny how the universe works, just when I thought I had lost the photos forever, the photos were gifted to me once again. Thus I want to write about my two years and two months in the army, as an acknowledgement of a period of enlightenment and growth for me.
My enlistment day was the 9 June 2004. It is forever etched in my mind for two reasons. First it was my enlistment day, obviously. Haha. Secondly, on the morning of that day, I was taking my driving test. Thank God I passed the test, if not I would have to wait a few months, or even years before I could take it again. Thereafter passing my driving test, I had to rush home and go Pasir Ris bus interchange to catch the shuttle service to the jetty. We were taken to the little resort island of Pulau Tekong in the Penguin Fastcraft. BMT was not as tough as some people make it out to be. True that it is a chore to wake up at 5.30am everyday, do chin-ups before meals, not to mention the rigid and discipline regimes that everyone had to comply. BMT was surprisingly fun for me. We were playing soccer in our bunks during free time, sitting around chatting and eating oreos and pringles. Even during the most physically demanding 7 day field camp, we did not have to dig trenches (just my battery), and I got to book out for a day, smack in the middle of the field camp, for my polytechnic graduation.
3 months passed in an instant, and I remembered being rather sad during the passing out parade. I still keep in touch with a few BMT friends, some of them accompanied me to the next posting, but most have gone their individual ways. I was posted to go through another 3 month training as a gunnery assistant. A gunnery assistant is part of the artillery formation, whereby some of us will be tasked to recce deployment grounds, plot azimuths, set up command posts, yada yada for the big guns. But whatever I learnt in the course, I did not need to put them to use in my designated posting after completing the course. Some of us were posted to training schools and headquarters, but most of us were posted to a unit. I was given the post of "personal assistant" (unglamorous, I know) to the highest command in the unit. I initially rejected the post, and asked to be posted together with some of my friends, but they insisted that I take it up. I was not looking forward to some of the ridicule and loneliness that comes along with the post, but it has turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
I was very fortunate to have served under 2 really nice bosses, one after the other. Technically I only have to listen to one person in the whole battalion of 500 over people, but does not mean that I can go around being snobbish about it, and I did not want to do that. Hehe. Throughout my time in the battalion, I've gone to 3 overseas exercises, India, Thailand and New Zealand. India was my first overseas exercise, and also the longest one (7 weeks if I remember correctly). For someone who has not been away from home for more than a few days at a time, it was eternity! It was also an eye opener to see another country's military and people culture. I remember many nights in base camp, my friends and I will hide behind our bunks, cooking instant noodles, heating up canned food with solid fuels, and drinking rum bought from the Indian soldiers.
My last overseas exercise was also my most memorable one. We went to the Waiouru training grounds near Auckland, New Zealand. Even though it was summer, it was still freezing cold! We were sleeping in makeshift tents and beds, which was not as bad as it looks below, with a few heaters in each tent.
The landscape behind the base camp was simply stunning. Even though the land belongs to some farmer, many of us sneaked into the open fields and started chasing the cows and sheep. When we were out in the many deployment grounds, the sceneries were even more spectacular, below are some of them;
It was truly a one of a kind experience for me, we were all shivering our asses off when night came, but it was made better with the band of brothers I had with me. Before we knew it, the exercise came to an end. Everyone was in very high spirits, as this exercise was the last overseas trip for most of us, and will be ORD-ing shortly after. We took a few photos to mark the end of the exericse;
During the rest and relax period, we managed to visit a few places, including Lake Taupo, Rotorua, mountain peaks and Auckland city. It was also in Auckland city where I managed to eat the best steak I have ever tasted, in Angus Steakhouse. The steak had no sauce whatsoever, and it literally melts in your mouth, no words can describe the awesomeness of the piece of meat. Not to mention it was cheap too, about NZ$20+ for a huge cut.
Reflecting back, I truly enjoyed my time in the battalion, making good friends with not only fellow NSFs, and also many regulars. Sometimes I really miss those days, when everyday was rather routine and worry-free. A typical day for me was usually like this; wake up at 7.30am, open office, check mail, read newspaper, surf internet, go for canteen breaks, run some errands if need to, read magazines, knock off at 6pm, drive out to buy dinner with friends, play games in bunk or chat till wee hours, sleep.
I still do keep in contact with many of my army friends, for meals, drinks or play soccer. I have also became very close to my Commanding Officer, occasionally he invites me over to his home for gatherings with other regulars, or we will go to Clarke Quay Brewerks on Sunday afternoons to have beer and pizza. My RSM is also one person I have tremendous respect for, he has been looking after and guiding me throughout my time in the battalion. Even though our ranks are very different, I have always felt that with my CO, RSM and me, we have commanded equal amounts of respect for each other, and that I am truly grateful for. Thank you for giving me such wonderful superiors and friends during my time in the army, may they be happy and successful in their life journeys, and I look forward to catching up with them soon, when the time comes. Bless them all!
